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Saturday, January 12, 2013

A FEAST FOR THE EYES

MOVIE REVIEW - LIFE OF PI (3D)

By:

G.P. Manalo

Starring:

Saruj Sharma

Irffan Khan

Life Of Pi
–Is based on a highly-acclaimed book with the same name about a Young man­
named, Pi travels to North America with his family to build a new life there but
along the way they got caught by a huge storm that results to a shipwreck
having, Pi the only one who survived the crash and a tiger named, Richard
Parker. And from there on he found himself building a friendship with this
tiger as they go on their journey of survival together.

I have heard a lot
about the book, Life of Pi over the years, it being acclaimed as a brilliant
book, so brilliant that it is un-filmable. And probably earlier last year they
showed the trailer, the visuals looked fantastic, it caught my eye immediately
but as I look back on stories about the book I was very curious on how will the
story turn out as it is told in the movie. That being said, the movie did
exceed all of my expectations, I definitely thought that this movie is Amazing.

I did not read the
book unfortunately; everything is very new to me despite the fact that I have
heard a lot of praise about the book for the past years, there were many
surprises to me for the fact that it is a very preachy film (not in a bad way,
I don’t mind the movie to be preachy at some point, just not too much) and also
a very dark film for a G-rated film (MTRCB strikes again). Going to the subject
of this being preachy is the fact that this movie is built up on religion,
facts like maintaining your faith in God, believing in something, and pretty
much questioning faith. As the movie begin, they introduce the religious side
of the character from the get-go and it was the main focus of the flashback of
his earlier life then it did dragged the movie from there but as the film go on
you realize that the religion is a big deal throughout the film, the move
delivering these messages and Pi being marooned with this tiger is the most
interesting part of the film. Visually, the movie is a feast for the eyes, they
were just- Stunning. The visuals worked out very well with the 3D, and when I
say the visuals work well with the 3D it really did, things are literally
popping out of the screen. It is probably the best 3D movie I have seen this
year (and the year just begun, can you believe that?). The Visuals in this
movie is very out of this word because I was told that all of the animals in
this film are CGI animals (Mind-blowing, Isn't it?) . But they look like they
aren’t, the attention to detail is spot on and they are so animated very well
you believe they are real. Then again seeing real animals drown or get eaten
realistically will be too much. And lastly to get all visuals out of the way, at some point the movie would be shot in this reflection-esque type like the water would reflect the sky or something like that. I thought those were also great to see in the movie, Ever since Skyfall i started to notice very good cinematography and I don't usually judge cinematography. In the end, the shots in this movie is beautiful to watch on the big screen.

That being said, this
movie was very well directed by Ang Lee. Ang lee knows how to develop
characters, work on visuals and friendships that doesn’t feel forced or cheesy at all
(Disregarding Hulk 2003).

That being said I love how they
illustrated Pi and Richard Parker’s friendship in this movie. Because it
would’ve went on a cheesy Hollywood-ized type of animal/human friendship but it
didn’t it was executed very well. The film really took a long time to develop
these characters but in the end you started to care for these characters as
they try to survive. But what made it all work is because of first timer Saruj
Sharma's performance, his performance is why the execution worked out very
well. In the end you believed that these two are very good friends in the end,
you believed in their territorial battles, you believe that the tiger and his
surroundings are real, and that's saying a lot for a first-timer. I also
thought the delivery of Irffan Khan’s emotions are effective (to be honest I almost
cried at his speech as he conclude his story), props to him and again to Ang
Lee for very good direction visually and in terms of execution at the acting
department.

In the end, Ang Lee delivered yet another
great piece of filmmaking (again disregarding Hulk 2003) from visuals to
acting. This movie may be a “feast for the eyes” but it is a very interesting
piece of craft by the one and only Ang Lee. I have to admit it did drag at some
point of the film, but if you are a little patient with the movie you might
enjoy some scenes for what it is. It is not necessarily a perfect movie, but enough
to be so. It is probably the most unique movie I have seen so far. I would
recommend it to you, If you are very annoyed by preachy types of movies this may
or may not work out very well for you, It may be an extensive sermon but it is
a sermon that we need to hear. The movie is well acted, well executed, visually
stunning I’d recommend you see it in theaters in 3D when you can because if you
don’t you are definitely missing out, It is definitely a cinematic experience you can't miss.

THE
GOOD:

+
VISUALLY STUNNING

+
WELL ACTED

+EXECUTION

THE
BAD:

-IT
DRAGGED AT SOME POINT

MY RATING:

FOR THE WIN

4.5/5

SO HAVE YOU SEEN LIFE OF PI? DO YOU AGREE OR DISAGREE WITH ME?WHAT DO YOU THINK OF IT COMMENT BELOW AND LET ME KNOW!